Service Key in Reaching Public
Beginning with only a handful of youth, an American pastor’s message of serving others has had an impact on Peru as he now leads a congregation of over 5,000.
Senior pastor Robert Barriger and his family have served in Peru for nearly 30 years. While on a recent speaking tour in the U.S., he told OneNewsNow that Camino de Vida, a church he planted in Lima, Peru, is one of the fastest growing churches in the country.
According to the pastor, a trait that makes his church unique is the fact that a number of its members are active in public service. More than 12 have run for public office, and one even ran for president of Peru. But the pastor points out that his church has had to work hard to gain its standing with the community.
“Sometimes the church wants to be a prophetic voice, but you have to earn the right to be heard,” he points out. “So it’s not just getting out there and saying ‘the Bible says,” but by getting out there and serving them, pretty soon they start asking us, ‘How can we help you?'”
Barriger says many churches seek political clout without first serving the needs of their communities, but he maintains it takes a servant’s heart to earn influence.
“We just find a need and serve it, whatever the need is in our church,” he shares. “For example, we give away wheelchairs. To date we’ve given about 55,000 wheelchairs away…for free. We also dig wells for communities in the jungles, or we de-parasite children, because so many children have worms in their stomachs and it causes malnutrition. And if you do enough of that, then eventually, you get the government’s attention.”
With the support of Church of the Redeemer in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Barriger is also involved in a nationwide church-planting movement that is working to start Camino de Vida churches all across Peru.
(Source: OneNewsNow)
